Holiday indulgences and food allergies

It's the most wonderful time of the year to eat delicious candies and cakes and carb-heavy meals, as long as you don't have to deal with any food allergies.

See's Candies are making their rounds in my office right now, and tempting me horribly in spite of their corn starch and vanilla extract and maltodextrin and other things that I can't digest. Popcorn has been another popular corporate gift this year, with kettle corn and Harry & David Savory Popcorn varieties floating around ad nauseam.

I've mentioned before that food is a huge part of our culture, and it seems like this is more apparent than ever from the end of November until the beginning of January - everywhere you look there is something tasty being offered in the name of holiday cheer.

I tend to spend a lot of my time during the holidays glaring at food. The buckets of popcorn and cookies at the office, the scones at my family's Christmas tea party, the puddings at restaurants, and the white chocolate mochas everywhere that coffee is served have all been subjects of my recent ire.

But, in spite of all the foods that people with allergies can't eat, there are options out there.

Seriously, purple chocolate is amazing. Photo by Alli

My wonderful husband has just returned from a trip to Washington, where he procured me a lovely box of chocolates. I've been there with him a few times before, and on one of our journeys we discovered a wonderful shop called Galaxy Chocolates. The owner, Kathryne Paz, was incredibly patient with my questions and very helpful when it came to figuring out which of the ingredients I could and couldn't eat. If you're looking for chocolate either as a gift this holiday or just to indulge your sweet-tooth it's the place to go. Stop in if you're in western Washington, and if you're anywhere else, call and ask what's available to ship to you (my personal favorite is the lavender chocolate - it's unspeakably good). Failing all of that, if you have the money to spare please make a donation to Help Save Galaxy Chocolates - it's a tough world out there for a small business, and I know of few places as deserving of help as Galaxy Chocolates.

Another option for allergy-safe holiday treats is Happily Ever After Confectionery, a SoCal baking concern that is very compliant to customer wishes. Allergy-safe food comes at a pretty steep price, with a cost of about $4.25 per gluten-free cupcake and a minimum order of a dozen but it would be well worth it for a special occasion. One of the bakers remembered my allergies when they catered a wedding for a wheat and corn allergic bride, and gave me a cookie to sample from the spares - based on the evidence, the carefully-crafted allergy-safe wedding food was a success, and a tasty one at that.

And if you are truly paranoid, as everyone with allergies has a right to be, you can always try your own hand at crafting tasty treats.

This Scissor Candy recipe makes a nice treat for parties or year-round if you replace the Karo Syrup with brown rice syrup and make sure that you're using safe powdered sugar, flavoring, and coloring.

This Fudge Recipe works well with Enjoy Life Chocolate Chips and allergy safe condensed milk.

I'm working on a grain-free dressing/stuffing recipe - if it works out well, I'll post it here for everyone else to use as well.

Eat happy, eat safe,
Cheers,
     - Alli